A drop of love in the poisonous pond

Many, many full moons ago, there was a beautiful princess in a tiny paradisaical hill state. As the nature’s blooms touched new peaks, her beauty still raced ahead more to scale newest charms. The nature spread across the far-flung wild trails sang the songs of her majestic beauty. Cool gusts of pure breeze did its duty to spread the charming tales of her beauty. For miles and miles her fame measured distances in just arm-lengths. 

There was a handsome prince in a kingdom which was at war with the princess’s state. The effusive tales of her beauty seeped into his thoughts, imagination and dreams. A sweet pining lynched him. Looking at the state of affairs between the two kingdoms, it was futile to nurture such dreams. But he was helpless. Days became boring and nights turned endless. It was just impossible to drive her out of his heart.

The much famed face was haunting him every moment, teasing him, daring him for bravado. Then unable to take it anymore, he untethered his horse and set out in pursuit of his destiny. It was a dark stormy night. Owls were screeching ominously. Wind was warning of risk. And the darkness was daunting. He appeared a futile chaser running after a mirage in a tragic race. He cut all fears and darkness with the steely point of his determination and went full gallop into the corridors of uncertainty.

Untamed wind came to subdue his young heart, and spanked his brave, soldierly chest. But he moved without taking any rest. His heart was at rest only in the pursuit. If he stopped for some time, his soul felt unbearable, became restless, forcing him to move with more speed and sturdier determination.

After a month-long suffering in the ravines, he reached where the much acclaimed star of her beauty shone. There was a risk of getting recognised, caught and, surely, hanged. He wandered in her kingdom in impersonation. The very air felt so antagonistic, but the pull of her fabled beauty kept him in pursuit. The myth of her beauty came spooling out of every mouth here and there. There were very few who had actually seen the precious jewel of the kingdom. The rest had their boundless imagination and endless stories to satisfy their curiosity.

His eyes were aching to have a sight of her, at any cost, even at the cost of his life. His suffering, pining heart was laden with cold sighs. He had been trained well in all the arts of war and disguise. He was taking out every plan from his well trained mind and skills to meet his goal of seeing her. He was just waiting for a chance to get the shower of her bloom to drive away his heart’s gloom. In his frantic search, he grabbed a chance at last.

It was a full moon night. The moon was lit at its fairest bright. The princess came out for a boat ride in the marvellously calm lake. He stealthily waited in the shoreline foliage. His chest shook with a thunderous heart-quake. Like desert sand waiting for rain drops for years, he lay in wait. The moment seemed so near, and yet impossibly far. Each passing moment appeared like years.

He was just above the princess’s safe, secret bathing marble platform. The white floor exotically gleamed. The stage welcomed the royal lady with awed welcome. His heart achingly struggled as her boat arrived. Her maidens were giggling and teasing her for her beauty. He held his hand over his broad chest as if to calm down his thumping heart, lest it exploded to make a big sound.

The paragon of beauty was adorned with filigreed silky finery. In silent majesty she put her adorable feet on the gleaming, cool platform by the waterside. Waves rippled through him with a coquettish chide. Her hallowed figure distinctly glowed over the group of helping ladies. His thoughts stopped. His world froze. And time got stuck up in a trap. It was too overpowering for the senses to take it in a moment. He turned a stone, mesmerized by her beauty. The night was so tranquil, affable and disarming that she decided to take a bath. So her finery no longer covered her exquisitely carved curves. And the earth stopped spinning on its axis.      

The naked fairy jammed his nerves. There was statuesque glow of marble on her milky skin. Even moonlight appeared bathing along the curves of her extremely feminine body. A real life sculpture of utmost symmetry and fathomless sensuality! The moon-rays deflected off her curves and panting, pining reached his eyes. Every moment her moon-sculpted body acquired new vistas and highs. Her flowing tresses over her long, slender back lustily shook to her head’s gentle gyrations.

Her facial features were a bit lost in the milky mystique of the moonlight. But he heard the words spoken with mythic softness. He was but dying with the urge to see the face of the fabled carrier of the unparalleled beauty. So he came closer to fulfil his young heart’s only aim in the whole world. How can you stop a sunflower from turning to the sun? Nature suffuses our selves, our beings with certain helplessness. And such pining helplessness paves the way for what we make of our lives. They decide the path we take. They set up the course of our destiny.

No flight lasts forever. Gravity pulls us down onto the plain of reality. He was noticed by the female arm-guards. Their well-toned, almost masculine, arms tossed into action and grabbed the sword hilts. Surrounded by trained female warriors he still had a decent chance of escape through a fight. But how could he put a blot on this night by getting into a bloody scuffle with her guards? No, he was in no mood to go to war, even if it meant risking his life. The female armed guards advanced and surrounded him. The prince was thus caught. The scandalous air of the happening filled up the moonlit panorama.  

The next sun rose with its curious, perplexed rays, eager to see the consequences of blind love. The tale of his reckless misadventure was doing the rounds. People were offended, more so because he was the enemy’s son. The king’s throne literally shook with the young prince’s impudence and mindless transgression. He was seething with anger.

Revenge, revenge shouted the petrified air. It was the enemy’s unforgivable crime. The king sentenced the enemy prince to death at his youth’s prime. However, even when blinded by the scornful blasts of rage and revenge, kingdoms have their own laws, the inviolable laws that hold their bastion even in the face of almost unpardonable sins. Well, that is the thinnest line dividing the domain of mankind from that of animals.

The prince’s royal blood deserved the fulfilment of a last wish before his death. When they brought him out for the public execution, the public was jubilant. How dare he enter into the private place of their fairy like princess!? He came out with the regal confidence of a prince. His face still carried the finest smile possible on a handsome face. When the last wish was asked, as the law demanded, he just asked the permission to see her face in full light of the blazing sun, no cover, no veil, just her much-fabled face. He simply requested an eye-full brace of her magical features.

God, why thou create such bewitching creatures? During his final moments before death he was led to the courtyard below her ornate, marbled balcony. He stood there like a victorious soldier. His head held high, his chained hands placed on both sides of his slim waist, his broad shoulders drawn firmly and chest puffed up with the pride of a journey completed.

The star of countless eyes was then led onto the balcony. She beat the sun in the dazzle of her finery. It was the finest creation of God he had ever seen. A smile curved from the corners of his lips and he took a deep breath as if to soak the moment till eternity. Her sad eyes looked down at him without any hate and malice. It was almost impossible to be otherwise with that beauty. The prince too was not less on the scale of looks. On his manly features the smile lurked with such ease as if it won’t be dislodged even by the gravest threat of getting killed.

The princess knew that her face had been the bait, which would soon seal this life’s fate. She looked deeply into his eyes and tears welled up in those almond cups of beauty and love. He looked at her with such unmoving intensity as to take a deep, deep imprint of her beauty on his soul, where no dagger would reach.

She was taken away. And he was led to the public square for beheading. His every step told the tale of a victory.

A sea of sorrow surged painfully through the princess’s delicate self. She fell at her father’s feet with an utmost painful entreat. If he, the prince of an enemy state, was ready to die for the cause of just a look at her face, she was capable of going a step further with her feminine bravery to save a life, an admirer, a brave man, a man having a heart full of love. It boosted her guts. She was ready to go to any length to save him.

“Father, it is not his fault, but the result of my well-meant kiss! He is not a stranger. Your daughter secretly tied the knot with him. If you kill him, sorrows and sufferings will cross ocean’s brim. A father would widow his daughter. For ages known will be this slaughter! And if you still send him to gallows, another death surely follows!” she was crying profusely and fell at her father’s feet.

The King loved his daughter more than his own life. He didn’t remember her tears through her lifetime, for he had always undone any cause which may bring tears to her beautiful eyes. How could he let this darling flower wither away? Thus, smiled on many fates a new ray!

A drop of love transformed the pools of poisonous, hateful waters. It turned a fountain of brotherhood, non-violence and cooperation. They were ceremoniously married. The decades-old animosity was buried. What a humane outcome of her wise, petalous whiff of courage! For the newlyweds a marital bliss, and for the two states a friendly kiss!

Long live love! The only substance that can consume the endless fire of hate!